Strictly Confidential. Terri Reed

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       “Buona sera, bella signorina.”

      Colleen blinked as Alessandro Donato took her hand and placed a light kiss on the knuckles. Sparks shot up her arm. “Good evening to you too, Mr. Donato.”

      She tilted her chin up in an effort to dispel the way the smooth cadence of his oh-so-pleasing accent caressed her senses, much as his lips caressed her fingers.

      “Please, call me Alessandro,” he said, a gentle smile touching his well-formed lips.

      Her throat suddenly dry, Colleen swallowed. “Alessandro.”

      Saying his name aloud felt strange and thrilling. The name rolled off her tongue in such a delightful way, making her aware of a threat she hadn’t anticipated.

      This man affected her in ways she’d only experienced around him. With every interaction they’d shared, the effect had intensified.

      It made her nervous. She didn’t like to be nervous. Nervousness was a weakness she’d learned to overcome in order to pursue the gritty stories that would one day propel her career to new heights.

      “Lovely party, no?”

      “Yes, it is.”

      Feeling slightly off balance when she gazed into his eyes, she glanced around, hoping to find some equilibrium, and spotted her parents entering the room.

      The former mayor of Colorado Springs looked handsome in his dark tuxedo with his shocking-white hair and bushy eyebrows. Her mother wore a floral tea-length dress in vivid shades of coral that brought extra color to her rosy complexion.

      Fondness for her parents tightened Colleen’s chest. Her mother’s bright eyes and warm smile made anyone who came in contact with her feel special.

      Colleen met her mother’s gaze and saw a question in her pale blue eyes: why was her only daughter talking to a man suspected of shooting his uncle?

      Colleen gave a slight shrug as if to say “so what?” Her mother would understand how little stock Colleen took in the rumor mill. So often she’d proven the gossips wrong when she’d investigated a story.

      She turned her gaze back to the man standing beside her. The knowing look in his dark eyes made her sense he’d somehow interpreted the exchange between mother and daughter correctly.

      “Your mother is protective, no?”

      His words confirmed her thoughts. “Yes. I’m her only daughter and you’re basically a stranger, even though you’ve been in town off and on for over a year now. Still, even your aunt Lidia doesn’t seem to know you well.”

      She studied him, liking his dark wavy hair and the aristocratic lines to his jaw. His soulful eyes could be hard and demanding yet turn so charming and compelling that her heart pounded with a rapid beat.

      He’d said he was an accountant. He certainly didn’t come across like any number cruncher she’d ever met. Superhero, Holly had said. Determination to uncover his secrets slid into place. “What is it exactly you do for the European Union again?”

      A slow smile tipped the corners of his mouth upward. “I’m gathering information to bring back to Europe on the feasibility of opening a branch of the E.U. Bank in Colorado Springs.”

      “What kind of information?” She’d heard her father and Max talking about how they’d yet to see any results from Alessandro’s work.

      “Information that will further transatlantic economic integration and enhance the flow of investments as well as trade between the E.U. and the U.S.”

      “That sounds like a party line to me,” Colleen stated as her reporter’s instincts kicked into gear. “Does such information include art?”

       “Scusi?”

      “I’ve heard from sources that you’ve taken an interest in the museum. And its new curator,” she commented, thinking of the brunette he’d been talking to when she walked in.

      She hadn’t missed the way they’d stood close together, as if they were involved romantically. Perhaps that was why he’d been hanging around. Why did a bubble of disappointment lodge itself in her chest?

      He arched a brow. “Really? You are checking up on me, bella? I’m flattered.”

      A heated flush flamed in her cheeks. “People talk. Especially about a mysterious newcomer.”

      “Is that what I am to you, bella? Mysterious?” His dark eyes probed her as if he wanted to see deep inside her where she held her own private thoughts.

      She rubbed at the sudden goose bumps prickling her arms. “I think you’re a man with much to hide.”

      “For you, cara mia , I would gladly tell all my secrets.”

      “Yeah, right.”

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